518-mile Underground Railroad bike route starts in Oberlin

MORNING JOURNAL/ANNA NORRISJim Sayer, the executive director of Adventure Cycling, shares the new map section of the Underground Railroad Detroit Alternate route that starts in Oberlin and travels up through Detroit into Canada to a room of local cyclists at Swerve Bicycle Shop in Oberlin yesterday. The 518-mile bicycle route hosts new historic sites from Oberlin to Owen Sound, Ontario.

OBERLIN -- A bicyclist pedaling down an Oberlin street is far from a rare sight.

"We love bikes, a lot," said Chris Robinson, manager at Swerve Bike Shop, a bicycle repair and supply store that it opened its doors at 23 S. Main Street last May. Since then, Robinson said the store has been flourishing.

"In a town like this, with as many cyclists as there are, it seemed there was a niche that wasn't being met," he said. In serving that niche, Swerve was recently a hub for the cycling world as it played host to Adventure Cycling Association Director Jim Sayer as he made rounds from Ohio to Canada in promotion of Adventure Cycling's new Underground Railroad Detroit Alternate Route.

The new 518-mile route starts in Oberlin, and guides touring cyclists through important communities and landmarks in the Underground Railroad's history from Oberlin all the way to Owen Sound, Ontario.

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"It's a combination of the extraordinary role that Oberlin played in the Underground Railroad as a haven for escaped slaves," Sayer said. "And it's a wonderful stopover for travelling cyclists. It's a beautiful town, has a wonderful downtown, and it's a college town with a lot of unique services."

The Detroit Alternate is part of a larger route mapped by Adventure Cycling, unveiled five years ago, that stretches across the United States from Mobile, Ala., to Ontario.

"We had received many requests to take the route through Michigan," Sayer said. "The Underground Railroad doesn't lend itself to specificity. We have an advisory board of historians, local people, and we decided we should really add some alternates."

The routes mapped by Adventure Cycling are largely based on existing public roads, Sayer said.

"Where it's possible, we'll look for separated bicycle trails, typically paved or hard-packed gravel," he said. "We're trying to stay with routes that anybody could use on a touring bicycle."

Robinson said Swerve Bike Shop is a member of the Adventure Cycling, and said its routes are particularly helpful in planning long-distance bicycle routes place instead of struggling with a map designed for car rides.

"They found people were using road maps to do cycle tours, and it didn't work," Robinson said.

While the Underground Railroad sometimes evokes images of underground tunnels and secret rooms, Patricia Murphy, executive director of the Oberlin Heritage Foundation, said that Oberlin is part of the legacy for different reasons.

"Oberlin was a major hub of activity for the Underground Railroad," she said. "Not only in terms of being a stopover point for formerly enslaved African Americans who were making their way to freedom, but also as a great hotbed of abolitionist activity on the part of both town residents and college faculty and staff."

"The whole community was known was a safe place," she continued. "And not only were there people who stopped here on their way to Canada, but there was also a sizeable population of formerly enslaved people who got their freedom through various ways and became part of Oberlin's community."

Robinson said Adventure Cycling incorporating Oberlin into an honor not only for its historic value, but for its rich cycling community.

"We get to show off the town, show them what a bike friendly place this is," he said. "It's got a long history, mostly started with the students and the college, this huge mass of bicycles all the time. People say, 'People in Oberlin, they just ride their bikes around.'"

"I hope that will mean we will have more bicyclists coming through on that tour route," Murphy said. "We have a fair number now who visit the Oberlin Heritage center who learn about Oberlin's History in the Underground Railroad."

In Oberlin and across the country, Sayer said there is a growing trend of cycling, and cited a variety of reasons.

"We're seeing this overall renaissance in cycling in America," he said. "It's cultural, people are more interested in doing things themselves, and a bicycle is one of the ultimate tools. You can do so many things on a bike, every day errands, shopping."

"The most amazing thing about America," he continued, "40 percent of all trips taken in a metropolitan area are two miles or less. You can walk those, and you can definitely bike those. People are realizing they can use the bike for so many things. Travelling by bike is one of the greatest pleasures."

Robinson echoed that sentiment, and said that when his bike shop opened last year, customers flocked to his business. He said he also hopes to facilitate a growing trend of cycling.

"It's nice, we've seen some older couples, maybe have been out of shape for a long time and their doctors say they need to do something, they'll come into the shop," Robinson said. "If I could get 1,000 less cars in this city, I would try to do that."